The present invention relates to a method for automatically matching the impedance of the final stage of a transmitter with the impedance of an antenna by means of a servo loop. More particularly, the present invention is directed towards a method wherein a control signal is obtained by a comparison of electrical signals, and a control signal is used to control a motor-driven matching element via a servo amplifier in such a way that the control signal is brought to zero by means of a proper input.
In known methods of this kind, a voltage proportional to the anode d.c. current, and the anode a.c. voltage of the final stage tube of a transmitter, have been used as the tuning criterion for a load matching of the final stage of the transmitter. In one known method, these two voltages are compared with each other in a comparator. In a second known method, a voltage proportional to the antenna load impedance, obtained with a directional coupler, is compared in a comparator with the anode a.c. voltage of the final stage of the transmitter, and the difference is used as a criterion for the tuning by means of a servo loop.
It has been found in practice that, in the first of these prior art methods, the servo loop becomes unstable under certain conditions, because the degree of efficiency of the final stage of the transmitter changes with tuning. The second method is better in this respect, but like the first method, it has the disadvantage that at low anode voltages (the automatic tuning phase begins at zero), the sensitivity of the servo loop is correspondingly reduced. As a result, the system inputs more slowly, and any noise components present exert a stronger effect and can lead to input difficulties.